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Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers RCAF 10000 and up Mid WW II to the end of the RCAF |
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| After the RCAF reached the end
of the 4 digit serial numbers,
large scale
procurement continued, to support the BCATP and the home defense
squadrons. Five digit serial numbers were introduced, starting
with Bolingbroke Mk. IVT 10000, taken on strength on 19 October
1942.
The highest World War II
serial was Cornell 16650. This was part of a huge block that was
mostly canceled at
the war's end, before being built. |
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| When World War 2 ended, the
RCAF reduced considerably in size, but
continued to be well organized and reasonably well funded. Procurement
was soon switched from the historical preference for UK
aircraft, to a preference for North American aircraft. This
resulted
directly from the early World War 2 problems with trans-Atlantic supply
in a war time situation. The use of 5 digit serial numbers
continued,
from where war time procurement left off. As with the 4 digit
series,
there were a few unused war time blocks below 16650 that would be used
post war. In the table below, these postwar acquisitions are
shown in italics. This included blocks for the CF-116 and CH-118,
that
were re-assigned Canadian Armed Forces
serials before the aircraft flew. |
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| The Royal Canadian Navy air
arm, started in the closing days of the war with ex Fleet Air Arm
aircraft, used a mix of
second-hand US and UK aircraft in the early postwar period. These
aircraft were operated with their
original US or UK serials, but began to receive
unique RCN pennant numbers
shortly after the
war. Later, aircraft built new to RCN order would receive unique
RCN serial numbers. The RCN also received several ex-RCAF
training aircraft, starting with Tiger Moths and Ansons, and later
Harvards, Expeditors, and T-Birds. These retained their 4
and 5 digit RCAF serial numbers, and what information I have on these
aircraft is/will be included in the RCAF detailed lists . |
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| Some of the overseas RCAF
aircraft returned to Canada, notably Canadian
built Lancasters and a few Dakotas, and continued to carry their RAF
serial numbers in postwar RCAF service. Relatively small
quantities of
second hand US and UK
operational aircraft were acquired, to start an Auxiliary Air
Force.
All these new aircraft received RCAF serial numbers. A
small Canadian Army air operation, relying on Air Force
procurement and carrying RCAF serial numbers, was started in
1947. The
BCATP aircraft were disposed of
or scrapped in large numbers, although a few continued in use and in
storage. Some wartime Lancasters, Dakotas, Norsemen and Cansos
were
converted for photo survey and survey support. This allowed the
RCAF to
finally finish the only civil assignment left it when it split from the
Air Board in 1927: a complete photo
survey
of Canada. This huge task, started with Avro 504s in 1920, was
finally finished in
1958. Most of the post war photography was done by Canadian built
Lancasters,
still carrying RAF serial numbers. |
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| The start of the Korean War,
the Cold War, and Canada's commitment to
NATO led to increasing procurement in the early 1950s. The new
aircraft
came
mostly from Canadian and American factories, and UK procurement was
minimal. RCAF squadrons returned to Europe, this time with
NATO and displaying RCAF serial numbers. By the late 1950s the
RCAF
would be operating
around the world in support of UN operations. These aircraft
usually,
but not always, continued to display their RCAF serial numbers.
The Canadian Armed Forces continues this
type of operation to the
present day. Canadian production of aircraft for NATO partners
began,
and some of
these aircraft were assigned RCAF serial numbers for book keeping, or
for testing in Canada. They were finally delivered with the
serial
numbers of the end customer. |
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| The RCAF continued to use serial
number blocks
assigned by aircraft type after the war ended. Each aircraft type
was its own
block, with all
aircraft of the type being issued consecutive serial numbers,
even when procurement was spread over several years. For example,
the
CF-100 was assigned serials from 18101 to 18792, without gaps.
These were built from
1950 to 1958, and other aircraft procured in those years were numbered
in other blocks. Gaps were left
between subsequent blocks, to allow for future procurement. As a
result, the RCAF 5
digit numbers reached 26,190 by integration
in February 1968, but there were less RCAF numbered aircraft in total
than suggested by this high number. (My
database
currently contains 17,900+ RCAF serial numbers, not counting numbers
re-used in the post war period, although it is not complete.) |
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| This use of blocks resulted in
some earlier 4 and 5 digit serials being
re-used. The original aircraft had all been sold or scrapped, so there
was no resulting confusion within the RCAF at that time. Also, a few
VIP transports acquired in the early 1960s were first issued previously
used 5 digit serials, before being renumbered in the new block system.
To minimize my
confusion today, I have recorded these numbers in separate lists of postwar RCAF serials. |
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| The table below will connect you
to two types of listings of these
aircraft. The "Brief lists" present a minimum amount of information
about as many aircraft as I can fit on a reasonably sized page.
Use these lists to
identify individual aircraft, or to quickly scan a large range of
serials. The "Detailed lists" contain all the information currently in
my database, and are broken into many more pages to keep the data
manageable. |
| Brief
lists |
Detailed
lists |
Typical Aircraft |
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| World
War II procurement (mostly) |
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| 10000
to 16650 4,658 records updated 31 October 2004 |
10000
to 10049 50 records updated 21 February 2007 |
10050
to 10099 50 records updated 20 March 2007 |
10100
to 10149 50 records updated 24 May 2007 |
10150 to
10199 50 records updated 24 August 2007 |
Bolingbroke |
| 10200
to 10257 57 records updated 23 November 2007 |
10261
to 10287 27 records updated 9 April 2011  |
Bolingbroke and Anson, Hiller | |||
| 10301
to 10328, plus 10401 to 10418 46 records updated 30 June 2006 |
Hercules, Labrador, Voyaguer |
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| 10497
to 10549 53 records updated 23 February 2008 |
10550
to 10599 50 records updated 29 February 2008 |
10600
to 10649 50 records updated 10 April 2008 |
10650 to
10699 50 records updated 9 July 2008 |
Anson,
Cornell |
|
| 10700
to 10749 50 records updated 14 December 2008 |
10750
to 10799 50 records updated 21 December 2008 |
10800
to 10849 50 records updated 19 February 2009 |
10850 to
10907 58 records updated 5 March 2009 |
Cornell |
|
| 10910
to 10918 9 records updated 23 December 2006 |
11001
to 11050 50 records updated 5 November 2006 |
11051 to
11100 50 records updated 29 November 2006 |
Dakota, Canso |
||
| 11101
to 111135, plus 11151 to 11163 37 records updated 12 April 2009 |
11181
to 11249 68 records updated 12 April 2009 |
11250 to
11300 51 records updated 18 December 2009 |
Liberator
plus Cosmopolitan, Anson |
||
| 11301
to 11350 50 records updated 31 December 2009 |
11351
to 11400 50 records updated 6 June 2010 |
11401
to 11450 50 records updated 12 September 2010 |
11451 to
11500 50 records updated 14 February 2011 |
Anson
Mk. II |
|
| 11501
to
11550 50 records updated 15 May 2011 |
11551
to 11600 50 records updated 16 July 2011 |
11601
to 11650 50 records updated 20 January 2012 |
11651 to
11700 50 records updated 24 February 2012 |
Anson
Mk. II, V |
|
| 11701
to
11750 50 records updated 3 July 2012 |
11751
to 11800 |
11801
to 11850 |
11851 to 11900 |
Anson
Mk. V |
|
| 11901
to
11950 |
11951
to 12000 |
12001
to 12050 |
12051 to 12100 |
Anson |
|
| 12101
to 12150 |
12151
to 12200 |
12201
to 12250 |
12251 to 12300 |
Anson |
|
| 12301 to 12350 | 12351
to 12400 |
12401
to 12450 |
12451 to 12500 |
Anson |
|
| 12501 to 12550 | 12551
to 12600 |
12601
to 12628 |
12631 to 12676 46 records updated 14 September 2010 |
Anson,
two seat Starfighters |
|
| 12700
to 12750 51 records updated 24 March 2012 |
12751
to 12800 50 records updated 8 July 2012 |
12801
to 12850 50 records updated 11 November 2012 |
12851 to
12900 50 records updated 13 April 2013 |
single seat Starfighters |
|
| 13231, 13881, 14001 to 14010, 14381 to
14399 |
14400
to 14450 |
14451 to 14500 |
Anson plus Iroquois plus Cornell, Cornell | ||
| 14501
to 14550 |
14551
to 14600 |
14601
to 14670 |
14675 to 14695 |
Cornell,
Silver Star |
|
| 14701 to 14745 |
14746 to 14789 |
14801 to 14846 two seaters |
CF-5 (all renumbered before
flight, these links will take you to the CAF serial numbers) |
||
| 14995, plus15001 to 15065 | 15066
to 15140 (not taken on strength by RCAF) |
15141
to 15165 |
15166 to 15190 (not taken on strength by RCAF) |
Dakota
plus Cornells (see notes below about cancelled Cornells, and
Cornells with RCAF style serial numbers but not taken on RCAF strength) |
|
| 15191
to 15215, plus 15241 to 15265 |
15291
to 15315, plus 15341 to 15365 |
16601 to 16650 |
Cornells
that were taken on strength by the RCAF |
||
| 15216 to 15240, 15266 to 15290, 15316
to 15340, 15366 to 16600 |
Cornells
believed to have been transferred to Rhodesian Air Training Group, or
cancelled before completion, without ever being on RCAF books |
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| Post-war procurement | |||||
| 16651
to end 3,861 records updated 20 July 2004 |
16651
to 16692 42records updated 30 September 2006 |
16701
to 16735 35 records updated 12 February 2008 |
Auster,
L-19 plus L-182 / L-19L |
||
| 17001
to 17087 86 records updated 19 March 2006 |
17391
to 17483 66 records updated 28 May 2007 |
17501 to 17525 25 records updated 2 September 2007 |
Vampire,
Voodoo, North
Star |
||
| 18001
to 18079 79 records updated 27 January 2006 |
18101 to 18150 50 records updated 31 August 2005 |
18151 to 18200 50 records updated 31 August 2005 |
18201 to
18250 50 records updated 4 September 2005 |
Chipmunk,
Canuck |
|
| 18251 to 18300 50 records updated 4 September 2005 |
18301 to 18350 50 records updated 10 September 2005 |
18351 to 18400 50 records updated 10 September 2005 |
18401 to
18450 50 records updated 23 September 2005 |
Canuck |
|
| 18451 to 18500 50 records updated 23 September 2005 |
18501 to 18550 50 records updated 30 September 2005 |
18551 to 18600 50 records updated 30 September 2005 |
18601 to
18650 50 records updated 20 October 2005 |
Canuck |
|
| 18651 to 18700 50 records updated 4 November 2005 |
18701 to 18750 50 records updated 4 November 2005 |
18751
to 18792 42 records updated 4 November 2005 |
Canuck |
||
| 19101
to 19150 50 records updated 16 July 2009 |
19151
to 19200 50 records updated 19 July 2009 |
19201
to 19250 50 records updated 6 January 2010 |
19251 to
19300 50 records updated 15 June 2010 |
Sabre
1, 2 and 3 |
|
| 19301
to 19350 50 records updated 18 September 2010 |
19351
to 19400 50 records updated 26 September 2010 |
19401
to 19450 50 records updated 6 August 2011 |
19451 to
19500 50 records updated 30 March 2012 |
Sabre
2 and 4 |
|
| 19501
to 19550 50 records updated 25 April 2013 |
19551
to 19600 |
19601
to 19650 |
19651 to 19700 |
Sabre
4 |
|
| 19701
to 19750 |
19751
to 19800 |
19801
to 19850 |
19851 to 19890, 20100 to 20109 |
Sabre
4, Radioplane OQ-19A |
|
| 20200
to 20249 |
20250
to 20299 |
20300
to 20349 |
20350 to 20399 |
Harvard |
|
| 20400 to 20449 | 20450
to 20479 |
20501
to 20507 |
20710 to
20742 33 records updated 7 July 2010 |
Harvard, Falcon, Argus | |
| 21001
to 21050 |
21051
to 21100 |
21101
to 21150 |
21151 to 21200 |
Silver
Star |
|
| 21201 to 21250 | 21251
to 21300 |
21301
to 21350 |
21351 to 21400 |
Silver
Star |
|
| 21401
to 21450 |
21451
to 21500 |
21501
to 21550 |
21551 to 21600 |
Silver
Star |
|
| 21601
to 21656 |
22101
to 22135 |
23001
to 23050 |
23051 to 23100 |
Silver
Star, Flying Boxcar, Sabre 5 |
|
| 23101 to 23150 | 23151
to 23200 |
23201
to 23250 |
23251 to 23300 |
Sabre 5 | |
| 23301 to 23350 | 23351
to 23400 |
23401
to 23450 |
23451 to 23500 |
Sabre 5 and 6 | |
| 23501
to 23550 |
23551
to 23600 |
23601
to 23650 |
23651 to 23700 |
Sabre
6 |
|
| 23701 to 23760 | 24101
to 24125 |
24201
to 24225 |
25201 to 25237 |
Sabre
6, Neptune,
Mentor, Arrow |
|
| 26001 to 26050 | 26051
to 26100 |
26101
to 26150 |
26151 to 26190 |
Tutor |
|
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Project |
This is an amateur site - please don't rely on any of this data for anything important!
Created 27 April 2004. Updated 25 April 2013.